Gingival embrasures, or black triangles, are triangular shaped spaces located between the proximal surfaces of adjacent teeth. During the early stages of periodontal disease, known commonly as gingivitis, bacteria on the teeth and near the gingiva infect and irritate the sulcus where the gingiva approximates the tooth. Gingivitis may cause the interdental gingiva, or gingival papilla, which occupy a gingival embrasure to recede, thus expanding the size of gingival embrasure or black triangle. As the interdental gingiva recedes, the teeth become loose which can force the epithelium to separate from the root of the tooth. Also, as a result of bacterial presence, inflammatory cells increasingly populate the gingival tissues. Thus, the tissue is weaker due to the disease, and attachment is lessened. Of course, further infection moves the tissue attachment further toward the apex of the tooth, causing the interdental gingiva to further recede. As disease expands the size of the gingival embrasure, the periodontal ligament which attaches the tooth to the supporting bone, and the supporting alveolar bone itself, are destroyed. The gingival embrasure is filled with plaque and bacteria. Ultimately, the tooth could be surrounded by loose, diseased, and detached gingiva. Eventually such deterioration can result in the loss of the tooth.
One conventional treatment of periodontal defects involves surgically gaining access to the tooth root surface in an effort to remove bacteria and possible infected soft tissue and to alter the periodontal pocket or obtain reattachment of the connective tissue toward the crown of the tooth. Some of the former methods accomplish this attachment by cutting away gingival tissue near the crown of the tooth and, if necessary, shaping underlying bone to create a sulcus similar in depth to a normal sulcus so that regular oral hygiene may be used to maintain attachment of the gingiva to the tooth. Of course, such treatment does not recreate the attachment of the gingiva near the crown like that which existed before any diseased condition. Such treatment also does not replace any periodontium lost to disease.
Another conventional treatment for periodontal disease involves gingival flap surgical procedures, where one or more flaps of gingival tissue are retracted from the tooth. After the tooth root is thoroughly cleaned, and diseased soft tissue is removed, these flaps are reopposed to the tooth. This disclosure describes an improvement over these prior art technologies.